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Dialects you can’t understand?

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cordelia0507
Senior Member
United Kingdom
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Speaks: Swedish*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 1 of 54
02 June 2009 at 6:13pm | IP Logged 
In your own language or another language that you speak completely fluently, are there any accents that you can't understand, or that you think are really hard?

(This can be very informative for others who are trying to learn your language, and also interesting to hear what others find hard to understand.)
Familiarity with different dialects is part of really knowing a language...

For me it is:

1) Swedish, Gotland accent (which Jeff on the forum speaks!) It's an isolated island in the Baltic sea. When they speak between themselves it sounds like a different language.

2) English: Strong Scottish accent, Scottish isles, Aberdeen, Orkney... (lots of call-centres are located in Scotland. Contacting call centres can be stressful to start with, and it's even worse if you struggle to understand what the rep is saying. )

Edited by cordelia0507 on 02 June 2009 at 7:22pm

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Chung
Diglot
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Speaks: English*, French
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 Message 2 of 54
02 June 2009 at 7:58pm | IP Logged 
Now and then I need to concentrate when listening to someone speaking English with an Irish or Scottish accent. I can have a tough time understanding spoken Scots, but not quite as tough a time when seeing it in print. Indian English is also sometimes tough for me because of the accentuation caused by interference from Hindustani or other Indo-Aryan language.

For French, I occasionally need to concentrate when listening to speakers of Québecois French or people whose French is influenced by a creole that's based on French (the latter seems to affect their choice of vocabulary more than accent)
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agoodeno
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Canada
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 Message 3 of 54
02 June 2009 at 8:29pm | IP Logged 
I understand that people from France have a hard time understanding Quebecois French, but how do the Quebecois find listening to French from France?

Alan

Edited by agoodeno on 02 June 2009 at 8:30pm

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Aquedita
Triglot
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Poland
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Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese
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 Message 4 of 54
02 June 2009 at 8:48pm | IP Logged 
I am a native Polish speaker but it would be impossible for me to comprehend Kashubian and almost impossible when it comes to Silesian. But to tell the truth when I moved out of my hometown to a city located 150km away I came across LOTS of unfamiliar vocab in conversation with locals. I guess each region has some "abnormalities" like that ;)

Edited by Aquedita on 02 June 2009 at 8:50pm

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Bao
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Germany
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 Message 5 of 54
02 June 2009 at 8:58pm | IP Logged 
German: Some Swiss German dialects (not all of them) seem to be impossible to understand. For other dialects I need some time to adjust to, but then it's fine.

English: Some American English accents. There's something about the prosody that unnerves me so much that I can hardly concentrate on the meaning of the words.
(Of course I don't always understand other dialects and accents perfectly, but I'd like to attest that to a lack of exposure)
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Dark_Sunshine
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United Kingdom
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 Message 6 of 54
02 June 2009 at 9:49pm | IP Logged 
Very strong Irish accents, if the person is speaking quickly or is drunk.
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Durben
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Portugal
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 Message 7 of 54
02 June 2009 at 9:51pm | IP Logged 
The portuguese native speakers have almost all big dificulties to understand the locals from Sao Miguel Island, Azores. It is the only case where I make a big effort o unerstand in my own language. I understand pretty much the brazilians, and other contries such as Angola and Mozambique.
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GuardianJY
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United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Italian, Swedish, French

 
 Message 8 of 54
02 June 2009 at 9:59pm | IP Logged 
Has anyone ever heard the style of French spoken in the lower-U.S. swamps? That's very difficult to understand, especially since it is a second language for me. I've heard that this is a problem even for native speakers of French. It's sort of French mixed with Middle English from when the French used to have New Orleans, I would think.


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